Oxygen therapy is the administration of oxygen as a medical intervention, which can be for a variety of purposes in both chronic and acute patient care. Oxygen is essential for cell metabolism, and in turn, tissue oxygenation is essential for all normal physiological functions. High blood and tissue levels of oxygen can be helpful or damaging, depending on circumstances, and oxygen therapy should be used to benefit the patient by increasing the supply of oxygen to the lungs and thereby increasing the availability of oxygen to the body tissues, especially when the patient is suffering from hypoxia and/or hypoxemia.
A common use of supplementary oxygen is in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the occurrence of chronic bronchitis or emphysema or others who may require additional oxygen to breathe either during a temporary medical condition, or a chronic lack of oxygen absorption. Oxygen is sometimes prescribed for people with breathlessness, in the setting of end-stage cardiac or respiratory failure, or advanced cancer or neurodegenerative disease despite having relatively normal blood oxygen levels. Various devices are used for administration of oxygen. In many cases, the oxygen will first pass through a pressure regulator, used to control the high pressure of oxygen delivered from a cylinder (or other source) to a lower pressure. This lower pressure is then controlled by a flow meter, which may be preset or selectable which controls the flow in a measure such as liters per minute (LPM). A typical flow meter range for medical oxygen is between 0 and 15 LPM though some units may be able to produce up to 25 LPM.
Many patients require only a supplementary level of oxygen in the room air they are breathing, rather than pure or near pure oxygen which can be delivered through a number of devices dependent on the situation, the required flow rate of oxygen and, in some instances, patient preference. For example, a nasal cannula is a thin tube with two small nozzles that protrude into the patient's nostrils. It can only comfortably provide oxygen at low flow rates (approximately 2 to 6 LPM) delivering an air stream with an oxygen concentration of 24 to 40 percent.
While there are many concerns that have been raised by medical practitioners regarding the use of oxygen therapy and supplemental oxygen supply to patients (e.g., aspiration of vomitus, etc.), for purposes of the present application, patients are known to suffer significant discomfort and inconvenience as a result of the use of oxygen masks or nasal cannula. Extended use of said devices irritates the skin of patients often resulting in secondary trauma to areas where the devices come into contact with the patient (e.g., ears, nose, and sides of face). Additionally, face masks and nasal cannula restrict the movement of the patient. This may cause the patient to suffer from stiffness due to decreased range of motion of the body and have a negative impact on the patient's ability to sleep. This is particularly true for a patient whose sleep patterns involve regular movement during the course of sleep who can often wake to find the nasal cannula removed from the nose and/or tangled about the body. Other patients that suffer from dementia or claustrophobia, for example, simply refuse to wear a face mask or nasal cannula.
Prior art devices have sought to solve some of the identified deficiencies by creating a headband and tubular boom directing air to the face of the patient without having to have a mask or nasal cannula. This approach, however, still requires that the patient wear a head band that can irritate the skin over time and also limit range of motion and disturb sleep. Others have sought to resolve the irritation associated with extensive wearing of devices with non-petroleum lubricants on the face and nose or foam guards to protect the ear, for example. Numerous other similar prior art devices attempt to solve the above-referenced problems in a similar manner but without an effective solution. Due to the problems and inefficiencies associated with prior art oxygen delivery systems, a need exists for improved systems and methods of oxygen delivery to patients that will minimize patient discomfort.